Gambling at a Casino? What Are The Odds of Winning Money?

Big news out of Atlantic City
casinos: apparently regulators at the Garden State's
Casino Control Commission are on alert for a suspected cheater. The crime:
Someone or some group of people won enough money playing blackjack at two
different casinos so that casino did something that never should happen - that
one casino lost money for the month on blackjack while another casino barely
eked out a miniscule profit.

If you've ever gone to a casino or would consider going,
don't miss this news story! Here are the highlights from the N.J.-based
Star-Ledger newspaper article:

In a normal month, casinos rake in about 10 percent to 15
percent of the chips players buy at a blackjack table, experts say.

But last month, the take at two Atlantic City casinos flew in the face of
conventional wisdom that "the house always wins."

The Tropicana lost more than $1.86 million at its blackjack
tables, while the Borgata narrowly avoided a loss, collecting less than $1
million on nearly $75 million in chips purchased, just over a 1 percent take.
Most of the other casinos in Atlantic
City did much better at the blackjack tables in April,
led by Caesars, which made $7.6 million.

Daniel Heneghan, a spokesman for the state Casino Control
Commission, said the proportion of the Tropicana's loss was unprecedented in
the state since the inception of casino gambling in 1978.

"It's extraordinarily unusual for a casino to lose
money at the game of blackjack in a particular month," said Heneghan, who
has worked for the commission for 15 years.

Outgoing Tropicana CEO Mark Giannantonio told the Press of
Atlantic City his casino lost almost $6 million to one man, whom he would not
identify. Representatives from the two casinos did not respond to calls from
The Star-Ledger.

"A casino can have a losing day, but it's maybe once or
twice a year. Anything that is longstanding where the (winning) percentage goes
down for a month, or two months straight, and I'm looking at other
things," said Jim Wortman, director of gaming education and research at
the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Houston.

Wortman, who worked for more than a decade at Atlantic City casinos and
once trained dealers at the Tropicana, said the numbers should make casino
managers suspicious.

"I just want to make sure the guy who made $6 million
is that good, and not that he's cheating or our dealers are that bad,"
Wortman said. "Generally, I would have more eyes on this guy than if he's
sitting there naked."

...Other experts said that since casinos aim to bring in high
rollers, the occasional loss is to be expected.

"When you attempt to target the high end player market,
volatility will be part of it," said Michael Pollock, publisher of the
Gaming Industry Observer. "It's not unprecedented that one player could
have such an impact."

Winning blackjack players have caught the public attention
before; a team of students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who
studied the game and systematically beat casinos was profiled in the book
"Bringing Down the House" and the movie "21," starring
Kevin Spacey.

"It's one of the games you can defeat by
strategy," Wortman said. "The strategy there is not anything new.
It's called card counting."

In card counting, a player tracks which cards have been
played and bets when favorable cards are due. Sometimes, a player is assisted
by several "spotters" nearby who look on and signal them.

Well, we may never know how the Tropicana Casino did the
unthinkable and actually lost money for the month of April, 2011 at blackjack.
Of course, the overall casino made big money for the month as usual because the
games of chance in casinos are guaranteed to make casinos money.

What continues to amaze me about casinos is that state
governments don't tell people the truth about them despite their sanctioning
their existence. Perhaps they don't tell casino patrons that they will lose
money because casinos bring in big tax revenue to states. More and more states
are heading down this path despite the proven deleterious other affects that
casinos have on local communities.

We put warnings on tobacco products. So, before entering a
casino, customers should have to read and sign off on a disclosure like the
following:

WARNING: You are nearly certain to lose money gambling in
this casino. In fact, the more time you spend gambling, the more likely you are
to go home poorer. We suggest only gambling with as much money as you can
comfortably (and happily) afford to lose because odds are high that's what you
will do. Please also be aware that gambling can be highly addictive and
contribute to ruined families and personal lives.

Copyright Eric Tyson, 2008 - 2015 all rights reserved.

Eric Tyson is the only best-selling personal finance author who has an extensive background as an hourly-based financial advisor and who does not accept speaking fees, endorsement deals or fees of any type from companies in the financial services industry or product or service providers recommended in his articles, books and his publications.